Pressure relief valve



Feb. 2, 1960 J. H. GROVES PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE Filed March 13, 1958 INVENTOR. JAMES h. GROVES A TTOE/VEYS United States Patent O PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE James H. Groves, Barrington, Ill., assignor to American Can Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application March 13, 1958, Serial No. 721,283

Claims. (Cl. 206-46) This invention relates to valves and more particularly to a pressure relief valve for a container.

In many instances, after a container has been sealed, an internal pressure change takes place. For example, when coflee is placed in a container, an amount of carbon dioxide is generated by the coflee which builds up a pressure within the container. It is ideal to provide a device for relieving this generated pressure.

Still a further example of a pressure problem lies in the plastic container having two metal ends covered by United States Patent No. 2,753,088. When this container is used to hold a liquid detergent, particularly when the detergent has an afiinity for oxygen, a vacuum is created within the container as the oxygen is absorbed by the detergent. In an extreme case, this vacuum might cause the plastic walls to panel-a term which is used in the trade to indicate a deformation or collapse of the side walls of the container.

It follows that it is a prime object of this invention to provide an improved valve mechanism which will permit the transfer of a fluid relative to the wall of a container to balance pressures without permitting leakage of the contents of the container.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a one-way valve for equalizing the pressure on opposite sides of the wall of a container.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide an improved one-way valve mechanism.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent as it is better understood from the following description, which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof.

With specific reference to the drawings:

Figure l is a front elevation, partially cut away, showing the valve and container arrangement;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view taken along plane 22 of Figure 1 in the direction of the arrows; and

Figures 3 and 4 are front elevations taken through plane 3-3 of Figure 2 showing two stages of valve operation.

Briefly this invention relates to an arrangement in which a sheet or strip of flexible material, preferably both flexible and resilient, is sealed to a wall of the container in such a manner that a communicating channel is formed between the wall and the strip which permits the transfer of gas pressure from one side of the wall to the other.

With reference to the drawings a container 2 is shown as comprising end walls, such as the one end wall 4, and a circular body wall 8 joined in hermetic fashion to the end walls.

A pressure relief valve 10 comprises a strip of flexible material 12 which is sealed to the end wall 4, preferably by a pressure sensitive cement 13, positioned substantially around the complete periphery of the flexible material. One edge 14 of the flexible strip is not sealed to the wall and in this manner a communicating passageway 16'is provided between the flexible strip 12 and the end wall 4 of the container. r I In order to provide the required communication to the opposite side of wall 4, an aperture 18is provided .in the end wall 4 to overlie the communicating passage 16.

With this construction, if a positive pressure exists on the flexible strip side of the end wall 4, the stripwill be forced into contact with the end wall to provide a seal to prevent the escape of gas through the aperture 18. On the other hand, if a negative pressure is on the strip side of the end wall 4, gas will enter through aperture 18 and pass along the communicating passage 16 and throughthe unglued edge 14 of the flexible material 12.

Container 2 is further provided with a dispensing spout 20 of conventional construction which has a captive cap 22 connected by a hinge 24 to the spout body. When the container 2 has been filled the spout 20 is inserted through V 18 and the communicating passage 16 into the container to balance the pressure on the opposite sides of the container wall.

On the other hand, if the contents are to be dispensed through spout 20 by squeezing the Walls of the container to create a positive pressure within the container, then the pressure within the container urges the flexible strip 12 into contact with the wall 4 to seal passage 16 and prevent the leakage of the contents of the container through the aperture 18.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. A container for a dispensible product, comprising hermetic walls enclosing a product, at least one of said walls having an open port, and a flexible member attached to said one wall adjacent said port and defining with said one wall a channel having one end in communication With said port and leading therefrom to the interior of said container, whereby a negative interior pressure of said container is balanced with the outside atmospheric pressure to relieve strains on said container walls and whereby said flexible member is compressed to close and seal said channel against leakage of said product therethrough upon increase of said interior pressure relative to said outside atmospheric pressure.

2. A container of the character defined in claim 1 wherein said flexible member is a flexible membrane conforming substantially to the container wall and disposed over said port and having a major portion of its outer edges hermetically attached to said one wall and a minor portion unattached to define said channel.

3. A container of the character defined in claim 1 wherein said flexible member is a plastic film.

4. A container for a dispensible product, comprising Patented Feb. 2,1960.

hermetic walls enclosing a product, one of said Walls v defining aflexible plastic tubular container body: wall and another of said walls defining a relatively rigid metallic top end wall having an open port, and a flexible memberattached to" said top end wall adjacent said port and defining with said top end Wall achannel having one end in, communication with said port and leading there from to the interior of said container, whereby a negative interiorpressure of said container is balanced with the outside atmospheric pressure to relieve strains on said container body wall: and whereby' said flexible member is compressed to close and seal said channel against leak-t age of said product therethrough upon increase of said interior pressure relative to said outside atmospheric pressure.

References Cited in the fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

